


Two Words

by Rìgh_Marbh (Righ_Marbh)



Series: Pride of the Summer [3]
Category: Frey & McGray Series - Oscar de Muriel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 14:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20136739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Righ_Marbh/pseuds/R%C3%ACgh_Marbh
Summary: When Adolphus mutters the words under his breath, he doesn’t actually expect Frey to hear him.





	Two Words

Adolphus has never, in all his life, believed in love at first sight but the day he saw that uptight little prick across the shinty pitch, well maybe it came close. There had been something in the set of Frey’s shoulders that said he’d be rare fun to wind up but that, deep down, there was someone worth knowing in there. He hadn’t been wrong, either. Even two years on from that day, Ian is still stuffy and stubborn and too fucking easy to wind up but Adolphus doesn’t want to think about what his life might have turned into if he’d been alone after what happened.

God, he fucking loves him.

They fight, aye, all the bloody time but it’s not…they fight becasue Adolphus goes absolutely weak for the way the blood rises in Ian’s cheeks, the way the fucking drama queen throws his arm around and just _monologues_ like he was born for it. They fight because through it all, Ian’s eyes are bright and vibrant like he knows Adolphus is doing it on purpose and, above all, they fight because kissing Ian when he’s flushed and angry and breathless is just about the closest thing to heaven. Especially when he’ll punch Adolphus’ shoulder, hold onto that anger for a few second more before laughing and pulling him closer.

They fight because Ian dosen’t know how to unwind any other way and Adolphus doesn’t know how to take things seriously and somehow they manage to find each other in the middle of all that.

It isn't always like that, though, and the best times are when Ian has nothing on for uni and they get on the bike and just drive until they're too tired or cold or, as on one very memorable trip to South Uist, too horny to go any further.

Years from now, when they're both old and crumbling to dust, he reckons that his clearest memory of Ian (possibly excluding the day he lectured at Glasgow and found him sitting on the chapel steps, basking in the sun) will be of the oh-so uptight and prim and proper heir to whatever bloody obnoxious and irritating ancient lineages, lying half-naked in the machair, covered in hickies and laughing openly at something that probably wasn't even that funny to begin with.

It's a memory that inevitably causes his hand to drift to the little velvet box he carries around in the inside pocket of his overcoat.

It’s a stupid idea, he knows, but the legislation was passing that December and it always seemed like a good idea. It's not like they'd need long to organise it and Ian wouldn't want anything flashy, which was fine by Adolphus because he’d even veto the idea of two witnesses if he could, but it was the sort of normality that he knows Ian craves, even if he won't say it out loud.

But then they argue about Adolphus’ recklessness again and the thought of going through all of that just to leave Ian bitter and widowed makes him think again.

They don't need rings and vows and paperwork, they’ll be fine as they are.

Aye. They’ll be fine.

*

Which is why he doesn’t even see it coming when it finally happens. The argument is stupid - not like the ones about his recklessness and suicidal tendencies, those at least come from areal place - because he’d been tangled up in a fight with Alastair fucking Ardglass over some stupid comment the insufferable wee prick made about Pansy and there’s something about Ian that’s just never gotten over the impropriety of brawling in the street and, of course, the news hadn’t taken long to reach his family because all of these people run in the same uptight, well-tailored circles and Adolphus just snaps.

“Why don’t ye jist go running back tae yer fancy ballrooms and Ritz parties then if it bothers ye that much? God forbid I embarrass ye any further!”

“This is not about me being _embarrassed_! This is about you becoming a law unto yourself! Ardglass is too well connected for you to start laying into him in the street like that! His aunt is already baying for your blood…”

“Aye and that wretched auld bitch can come an get it…”

“_For fuck sake, will you listen to yourself!_”

When Adolphus mutters the words under his breath, he doesn’t actually expect Frey to hear him, much less pay it any attention but his voice is cold and flat and once he’s had time to calm down, Adolphus is fairly certain that Ian had seen this coming a long time ago.

“I swear to God if you tell me to fuck off one more time then I will.”

He doesn’t even recognise the voice that replies.

“Frey? _Fuck off._”

**Author's Note:**

> I am a bad person, I know, but I’m aiming to get all of these finished, edited and uploaded before The Darker Arts comes out.


End file.
